GODFREY — The Belleville East Lancers came out strong against conference rival Alton Tuesday, but in the end, barely scraped out a 59-57 win.

Both coaches described the game as “sloppy,” with a lot of turnovers and miscues.

“Both teams at certain points in time kind of struggled with handling the ball, shooting,” Alton coach Eric Smith said. “Defensively we had too many breakdowns.”

“It’s not one of those games you’re going to look at and say ‘Wow, that was well-played,’” said Lancer head coach Abel Schrader. “Both teams are athletic; both teams do like to get up and down. You have to do the best you can, take care of the basketball and see how many times you can get to the basket.”

Alton came in to Tuesday’s contest with a 7-4 record, and was tied for first with Edwardsville the Southwestern Conference at 4-0. Edwardsville was to play East St. Louis (6-8 overall and 3-1 in the Southwestern Conference) Tuesday evening.

Belleville East came into the game with a 9-4 overall and 2-2 conference record.

The Lancers were ahead most of the first half, but the Redbirds were able to take the lead late in the second quarter before ending the half tied at 31.

The Lancers came out strong and led the entire first quarter, scoring first and then putting some distance between them and the Redbirds, leading by 6 points with about four minutes left in the quarter.

But Alton was able to work its way back with two late-quarter baskets by Maurice Edwards, and the quarter ended with Belleville East ahead 20-19.

In the second quarter, both teams battled back and forth, with the Lancers maintaining their lead for most of the time.

With 5:25 left the Redbirds got to within two, then took the lead 28-27 with 3:35 left with a basket by Jordan Golley.

The Lancers were able to tie the game a 1:17, and the half ended 31-31.

The Lancers took the lead at 7:17 in the third quarter, but the Redbirds were able to retie the game about 10 seconds later.

Alton took the lead 34-33 at 6:25 with a free-throw by Marcus Latham, and the two teams traded the lead for several minutes until Belleville East started to pull ahead with about three minutes left in the quarter.

They expanded the lead to seven with 1:36 left, 43-36, and the quarter ended with the Lancers up nine points, 48-39.

The Lancers continued to dominate early in the fourth quarter, taking a 12-point lead at one point.

Alton was able to whittle some of that away but Belleville East stared to expand its lead again about halfway through the quarter when Alton came back on several steals, making the score 57-51 Belleville East with 4 minutes left in the game.

Alton was able to get to within 3 points with 1:32 left and a basket by Golly with 53.7 seconds left brought the Redbirds to within one at 58-57.

“They were 12 points down and we didn’t handle the ball well and didn’t get some things at the basket like we wanted to,” Schrader said. “Both teams like to get up and down. Alton likes to run and jump, to alleviate that you have to attack. It was a game of runs, they went on a run, we went on a run and we were just fortunate enough to pull it out.”

Down by two points, Alton called a final timeout with 12.1 seconds left and possession of the ball.

The Redbirds’ final shot missed and Belleville East was able to hang on to the win 59-57.

Toward the end of the game, Smith said the Redbirds developed a “sense of urgency,” that enabled them to cut Belleville East’s lead.

“The hard part of it is you dig yourself such a deep hole it’s hard to come back,” Smith said. “We had some up and down individual play, and collectively there is a handful of things we have to do better.”